1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for adapting tires of an, in particular, motor-driven means of locomotion to given travel situations, in particular of a passenger car, of a lorry, of an aircraft or the like. The present invention relates also to a means of locomotion having at least one tire which can be deformed as a function of the travel situation in order to carry out the abovementioned method.
2. Related Art
Tires of means of locomotion such as, for example, passenger cars, lorries, motorcycles, aircraft or the like have various demands placed upon them depending on the travel situation. During braking and acceleration processes it is basically advantageous to make the contact area of the tire, that is to say the area of contact of the tire with the respective underlying surface, as large as possible in order to achieve high friction. In contrast, when travelling straight ahead without such braking or acceleration processes a particularly small tire contact area with minimum frictional resistance is advantageous. In turn, when cornering it is advantageous to have a tire contact area which is as large as possible and has maximum friction in order to be able to compensate lateral forces which cause lateral accelerations.
Tires according to the prior art constitute compromises which attempt to satisfy the abovementioned contradictory requirements as well as possible. In order to bring about the best possible compensation of longitudinal and lateral acceleration forces, tires with a relatively broad tread, and thus a large tire contact area, tend to be used. If tires with relatively narrow tread are used, value is placed correspondingly on straight-ahead travel with friction which is reduced as much as possible.
Motorcycle tires have a specific tire contour which attempts to model the different requirements during straight-ahead travel on the one hand and during cornering on the other. The contour is configured in such a way that the tire contact area, and thus the adhesion of the tire, increases as the motorcycle adopts an increasingly oblique position. However, motorcycle tires are not adapted to different travel situations during straight-ahead travel. The same tire contact area is always effective irrespective of whether the tires are, on the one hand, being braked or accelerated or, on the other, are travelling straight ahead without being braked. This gives rise to the same friction conditions irrespective of whether the tires are accelerated or braked.